The Adopted Uchiha
by SenorCheesecake
Summary: So what happens in the event that one Mikoto Uchiha does the sensible thing, and adopts her BEST FRIEND'S ORPHANED KID? How does this change Naruto? How does this change Sasuke?
1. Chapter 1: Day of the Kyūbi

**So, this idea just kind of came to me as I was studying physics one day. In the flashback to the Day of the Kyūbi, Kushina talks with Mikoto briefly, revealing she's going to give birth. Therefore, Mikoto would probably know Naruto is her son. So, being a kind and caring woman, would she not take him in? Also, wouldn't the Third Hokage let her? He knows that people hate Naruto, and the best way to protect him would be with arguably the most powerful clan still in existence, right? Just a random train of thought I had that I am now basing a story off of.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not currently nor have I ever owned Naruto.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Day of the Kyūbi

Kushina Uzumaki sat bolt upright, drenched in a cold sweat. At first, she couldn't figure out why, until she remembered her nightmare. After talking with the Third Hokage a few days ago, she had only been growing more and more worried. Her nightmares had seemed to get more vivid as the days passed; perhaps the fox was the cause of them. The first night, she had seen Konoha crushed, with its citizens lying about the streets as bloody mangled corpses. The second night, she was forced to watch the attack take place, as the fox decimated the Leaf Village's shinobi and massacred its people. On the third night, the nightmare had taken place in full color, with sound. Last night, she was able to smell everything, from the blood splattered across the Leaf Village to the fox as it finished crushing the last stone face, the face of Minato.

She had realized that the fox was probably trying to unnerve her, as some sort of punishment for trapping him inside of her, to prevent him from doing what he now threatened to do if he broke free. Of course, he would probably be resealed quickly if he did, since Jiraiya and Minato would both be waiting for him.

Regardless, she was determined to not let it get that far. She had no idea how the Nine-Tails breaking loose would affect her unborn son, but she was guessing it wouldn't be terrific. Mind you, just being developed next to the fox probably altered him already. Maybe he'd be… _foxy_. Kushina chastised herself for such a terrible joke. At least she knew she wasn't too affected by images that were nothing more than dreams, if she could still make her bad puns.

About an hour later, after trying and failing to go back to sleep, the redhead decided to just get up for the day. Standing up, she felt slightly nauseas. She stumbled for a moment, before catching herself and shaking her head to try and clear the feeling.

She looked around a bit, wondering where Minato could be. Surely it wasn't so late he'd be at the Hokage Mansion.

* * *

' _I really hate you sometimes, old man,'_

Minato looked at the stack of papers on his desk, wondering how they built up so fast. He had only left the room for a few minutes, but now he couldn't see the surface of his desk at all. He sighed, imagining the Third Hokage laughing at him right about now.

Of course, paperwork didn't take him long. However, every second he had to spend on it was another second he couldn't be with his wife. She had told him that she was having nightmares about the fox, but she wouldn't tell him any details beyond that. He wanted to try and comfort her, but for one thing he wasn't sure how, and for another he was incredibly busy with his paperwork... for a few minutes at a time.

If Hiruzen really was laughing at him, at least he could laugh back.

* * *

Later that evening, most of Konoha were going about their business as if everything was perfectly normal. Nothing of note had happened all day, even with the Hidden Cloud supposedly advancing through the Land of Fire. No one even noticed when the Fourth Hokage had returned to the village covered in the blood of over a thousand ninja, all of whom had made a fatal error.

They had attacked Konohagakure

For the third and, thankfully, final time, the Yellow Flash of the Leaf demonstrated why exactly both Iwagakure and Kirigakure had active orders to retreat the instant any blond hair was spotted in a battle against the Hidden Leaf Village. He had been timing the battle in his head, slightly disgusted at himself for the fact that he could kill so many so quickly.

4 seconds. It had taken him four measly seconds to kill over a thousand ninja, including over a hundred ANBU from Kumogakure.

At five seconds, he encountered the Fourth Raikage and his 'brother', two ninja who he felt would probably be more of a challenge to defeat. He ordered his comrades to retreat, before littering the area with his special kunai. The Raikage had nearly immediately attacked, followed by the jinjūriki of the Hachibi, the Eight-Tails. Unnoticed by the Kumo ninja, Minato placed a seal on the tentacle Killer B had attacked him with. The next time the Raikage attacked, he let him get as close as possible before appearing behind B. As he did, he noted B had a blade pointes right back at him. He smiled, glad to see that there those who cooperated perfectly with their Bijuu (Tailed Beast). It meant that the First Hokage was right; people could live in peace with them.

Though, no other tailed beast was as hateful and chaotic as the Kyūbi. After all, it wasn't called the embodiment of hatred for nothing. Regardless, Minato felt he needed to prepare himself for the evening, seeing as how that was when Kushina was expected to go into labor.

* * *

"Very interesting…" muttered a masked man, cloaked in the shadows. He had overheard an exchange between a silver-haired ANBU and the grave of a close friend. The ANBU had briefly talked about the woman he was protecting, the Nine-Tails jinjūriki, going into labor, and the fact that the seal would be weakened by it. The masked man had only come to the village to see the grave for himself, still trying to deny it had happened. But, thanks to the same ANBU who spoke to her grave, Rin was dead, despite Kakashi's promise to protect her. Not only that, but he had killed her himself.

Thanks to Kakashi, the ANBU, Obito had a new reason for staying in the village: controlling the Nine-Tails. Madara had taught him long ago that he could control any tailed beast with his Sharingan eye, and he was intent on testing the theory.

' _So, tonight, hm? A secure location? Easily found, thanks to Kakashi. You silver-haired dumbass,'_ Obito would have thought that ANBU would be smarter than to announce such sensitive plans to a _grave_ of all things. Sentimentality seemed like nothing but a weakness to the one-eyed Uchiha, especially now. It was because of sentimentality he had only one eye. It was because of sentimentality that he was so broken over Rin's death. It was because of sentimentality that the Leaf Village would be destroyed by the Demon Fox.

* * *

On the way to the location where Kushina would give birth to Naruto, Biwako Sarutobi and Kushina ran across Mikoto Uchiha holding her baby son.

Kushina gushed over the newborn in her friend's arms, "You had a girl?"

Mikoto seemed amused at the statement, "Heh. No, he's a boy," she said to the redhead.

"What a little cutie! Hi there, little guy. What's your name, handsome?" said Kushina with a small giggle.

"It's Sasuke," breathed out her friend.

"Ohhh. He was named after the father of Lord Third's then, was he?" asked Biwako, walking back to where Kushina had stopped.

"Yes. So he'll grow up to be a strong, splendid shinobi," Mikoto looked up. "You're due pretty soon to, aren't you Kushina? Might want to start thinking about baby names as well."

The redhead answered excitedly, "Actually, I've already decided." She paused, putting a hand on little Sasuke's head. "We're going to call him Naruto. He'll be classmates with little Sasuke here." Talking now to Sasuke she said, "I hope you two get along." Looking back up at her friend, she whispered, nervously "By the way… does it really hurt like they say?"

Mikoto seemed a little surprised and slightly amused at her friend. "Wow, so there's actually something that scares you? Shocking."

It was then that Kushina was pulled away by Biwako, who scolded her for holding them up. Mikoto watched her friend walk away, and looked down at her newborn son.

"I hope you two become friends someday, Sasuke. Just like his mother and me."

* * *

This was one of the more amusing assignments he had received, the ANBU known as Yōko. He knew he shouldn't find it funny, but he had never heard a childbirth as… loud as this one was.

"GAAAAH! I-IT HURTS, 'TTEBANE!"

As far as he knew, the other ANBU here were just as humored as he was by the shouts. The verbal tic of the soon to be mother made for a number of strange endings to sentences.

Coming out of his thoughts for a moment, Yōko thought he saw movement down by the water. He reached for his sword and a kunai, before realizing they were just ripples.

In the…air?

All of a sudden, he realized he was the only ANBU still in position. He glanced around, and saw that the other three were dead. He hadn't even seen anyone attack them; they were simply dead one moment. He leaped backwards, trying to figure out what in the world was taking place, when something grabbed him around the throat. He was pulled down to the surface of the water by a strange man in a black robe and orange mask bearing strange patterns on it. He tried to stab the man, but his sword went through him. As it did, his grip suddenly stopped. The next second however, when Yōko pulled his blade back in shock, the masked man knocked it away and continued to strangle the ANBU member to death.

* * *

Obito had to admit, nothing was much more satisfying than choking an opponent to death with your bare hands. Swordplay was well and good, but he found that death came too quickly. When strangling someone, he could see all sorts of emotions in their eyes, from anger and hate to, on one occasion, sadistic glee. It made him feel like he had some much power, to be able to cause someone to cease existing without any sort of help from a tool.

Refocusing himself on the task at hand, he looked up at the entrance to the cave. Not about to try and sneak in through the wide-open mouth of the cave, he walked towards the stone wall, passing straight through it with ease. Strangely, and conveniently, the solid stone walls did little to muffle noise from the room above, allowing him to hear everything. He elected to wait for the child to be born, since it would give him an object to attack that everyone in the room would rush to help.

He heard crying start from above, and deduced that the birthing was finished. He began to make for the wall, to pass into the room beyond it. As he did, he saw that the midwives were carrying the baby to the opposite side of the room to the new parents, making his job much easier. He saw the small bundle in the arms of one of the midwives, and made to attack her. She let out a scream as she and the other died, attracting the attentions of both the Fourth Hokage and the Red Hot Habanero. He held the child in one arm, with the other poised over the boy's face, ready to maul it to death. Or possibly strangle it, like the ANBU outside.

When Minato looked back to Kushina, Obito pulled a kunai out of his sleeve, and held it to the boy's face.

"Get away from the jinjūriki! Don't you care what happens to the brat?" he taunted. Minato attempted to get him to stop, unsuccessfully. He tossed the boy into the air, drawing Minato to the other side of the room as the Yellow Flash caught his son. Obito activated the explosive tags on the bottom of the bundle, forcing Minato to teleport away to save the newborn, leaving Kushina trapped with the masked man.

All the more reason that sentimentality was only a weakness.

* * *

There weren't many occasions one could call 'normal' in a village inhabited by both normal people and people who could shoot fire from their mouths and lighting from their hands, but this night certainly qualified. There were the usual antics going on between friends and families, drunks being thrown out of bars, Guy trying to get Kakashi to battle him, and some genin showing off to their friends here and there. Nothing was terrifically out of the ordinary about any of this. No one knew the kind of horror they'd be facing in only an hour. Nay, only 15 minutes. Those closest to the proverbial 'ground zero' could hear a man yell out something about a jutsu involving summoning, though only the two ninja in the vicinity knew what it was. Even those two thought nothing of it. After all, nothing eventful had happened all day. Why would this be any different?

Half a second later, all those who had heard the jutsu being cast were dead, crushed underneath of a large fox possessing nine tails, with each one waving about behind it, causing massive damage to the village and it's people. All those who could either see or hear immediately panicked, seeing such a huge creature appear from nowhere. As it roared, it sent a shockwave through the entire village, rupturing the eardrums of many different people. Though it meant very little, since they wouldn't last much longer anyways, all those who heard that roar knew it would be imprinted into their memories until the end of their days. When the fox roared again, the shockwave seemed to be directed in front of it, toppling buildings and killing hundreds. Suddenly, the fox glared at the stone face of the Fourth Hokage, and began to create some kind of purple sphere, which it launched through the village at the cliff side. The sphere seemed to shrink, actually being transferred by a seal the Fourth was using. The night sky was lit up the next moment by a huge explosion in the distance, large enough to have destroyed the entire Leaf Village and some of the surrounding lands. The ninja in the village continued to assault the gargantuan fox, hoping to damage it in some way.

It seemed as though the fox didn't realize it was being attacked. It kept destroying the Leaf as it did before, killing by the thousands for almost 10 minutes. The Inuzukas, Hyūgas, Akimichis, Naras, Yamanakas, Aburames, Uchihas, and every other clan in Konoha lost several hundred members in total to the attack by the time the Fourth Hokage teleported the fox outside the village, to a 'safe' distance. Almost immediately, the streets were flooded with survivors looking for anyone they might be able to save.

* * *

Performing two advanced seals was tiring enough, but with the strain of his battle with the masked man and teleporting the Kyūbi, as well as protecting Naruto from it's desperate attack, Minato was certain he would be dying soon. Partially because of the severity of his wounds, but mostly because of one of the seals he had used. He tried to tell Hiruzen everything, but could only get out something he felt was important above all else.

"Hiruzen," he said. "Please, let Naruto be known as a hero. Don't let the people make him a villain to the Leaf Village, just because he contains the fox."

Kushina picked up when he stopped talking. She was coughing profusely, but still managed to get one thing out, "Mikoto U-Uchiha. Give him… a home w-with her." The Third affirmed he would, realizing they were giving him their last wishes. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and Legendary Yellow Flash of the Leaf, made one last sign and put the last of his and Kushina's chakra into the Eight Trigrams Seal, ensuring the fox would never, _ever_ , take control of Naruto. Without any chakra left, both of them died on the spot, leaving behind a boy forced to contain the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

* * *

When Mikoto heard of Kushina's death, she was overcome with grief. Kushina had been her friend since she had first met her, back when they were both still in the Academy and Kushina punched some guy through a wall for calling her a tomato.

When Mikoto heard that her son had survived, she was overjoyed, even if he did have to contain a demon.

When Mikoto was given the choice to adopt the boy as per his mother's last wish, she accepted instantly, to do her friend one last favor.

She would have elected to have the boy keep his mother's maiden name, a name the Third had given him to hide him from his father's enemies. Namely, the three ninja villages who sent armies that he had decimated. The only problem with the boy keeping his mother's name was that she had her fair share of enemies, from Kirigakure and Kumogakure. Also, when a Hokage marries someone it tends to be big news. Anyone with a brain who had known about the Fourth would assume Naruto Uzumaki to be the same as Naruto Namikaze. Hell, the Third Hokage was the one who told her he shouldn't keep his mother's name. The boy was renamed upon his off-the-record adoption into the Uchiha Clan.

And thus, Naruto Uchiha was born.

* * *

 **Wow, does that name sound bad. Naruto Uchiha. It really doesn't seem natural at all. Ah, well.**

 **I never did get why no one had ever realized who Naruto's parents were. As far as I know, Kushina was the only Uzumaki alive in the Leaf Village by then, and her relationship with Minato didn't seem all that secret. Anyone else see my point?**

 **Anyways, let me know what you think, be it positive or negative.**

 **I should probably start writing longer first chapters for stories though. This one's better than my first story, but I find it to still be too quick of a read.**

 **You'll be able to see this on my profile page, but each story will now be updated on a biweekly basis. Next week will be A Lack of Faith, the week after will be this one, and so on.**

 **Until Chapter 2: The Two Boys!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Two Boys

**I'm rather surprised this story did as well as it did in its first two weeks. Thanks to everyone who left a review. It's really nice to be able to see you like what I'm writing.**

 **By the way, am I right to say Sasuke was 7 when the Uchiha massacre happened? I'm assuming 9 at the moment for story purposes, but I feel like that's wrong.**

 **Disclaimer: There once was a man who owned Naruto. I am not that man.**

* * *

Chapter 2: The Two Boys

"NARUTO!"

In the early morning of one fine day in the Land of Fire, several people looked about to try and find the source of a shout that resonated through the streets of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Those successful were able to witness two small boys running down the streets, with one chasing the other. As a mop of blond hair sped past each person, a boy with raven colored hair followed suit.

For just five minutes ago, the blond haired boy, Naruto Uchiha, had managed to get a bucket of water to fall on his brother's head as Sasuke had walked through the door. Sasuke had been infuriated at something so small, and had begun chasing Naruto around the village.

After around ten minutes or so, the 9-year-olds were exhausted from all the running they had done in the last several minutes. They sat against a wall, getting their breath back, waiting for their legs to get felling back. Neither of them were terrifically used to running so much. At most, they'd run to the Ninja Academy when they saw it in the morning.

As they sat against that wall, Sasuke looked over at his brother, still always surprised at the startlingly yellow hair that adorned his head. It was quite rare for an Uchiha to have any hair color other than black, or white and gray once they grow old. Beyond the blond hair, he also had three whisker-like marks on his face, something that made him look mischievous at all times, especially whenever he grinned in his signature fashion. Excluding those two details, he looked much like the rest of the Uchihas, from his Uchiha clothing to his black eyes.

Naruto looked back at him, then raised an eyebrow at his silence. "Sasuke?" he asked, waving a hand in front of his hours-older brother's face. "You in there?"

Sasuke blinked, snapping himself out of his thoughts with a shake of his head. "What?" he responded, as if he hadn't heard Naruto.

"Oh, good. I was worried you'd gone to sleep with your eyes open, like Itachi does. I don't need both of you doing it. It's creepy and weird." Sasuke let out a small laugh.

"You know Naruto, I could say you're pretty weird yourself, between the blond hair and the whiskers," he replied, looking up at the sky to gage the time. "We might want to get to the Academy soon. Iruka-sensei will have our heads if we don't."

"Just another minute or so, to get my breath back. You really overreacted to a bucket of water, ya know that?"

* * *

"-adara in what is now the Leaf's cemetery. Oh good, glad you two could join us," Iruka jabbed at his two late students. It was the fourth time that week- out of the four days they'd had, no less- that the Uchiha brothers had been late. It was getting tiresome, especially since only Sasuke seemed slightly abashed at the fact that they should have shown up almost 20 minutes ago.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei, but I had to get a change of clothes from home, thanks to a certain somebody," explained Sasuke, glaring sideways at Naruto, who had his hands behind his head with his trademark grin plastered across his face.

Iruka sighed, and said, "Fine. Just take your seats and get here on time in the future," ' _for once,'_ he thought. "Anyways, now that we've been joined by our last two students, let's continue. After the battle, the Kyūbi no Kitsune was sealed inside of a woman by the name of Mito Uzumaki. This in turn gave rise to the idea of sealing the Bijuu inside of men and woman as a way of preserving the balance of power between nations. Furthermore-" And so it went on, until nearly an hour later the history portion of the day was over. Afterwards, as usual, they were let outside for sparring and practice. With all of them being around 9 years old, and newly introduced to ninja training, it was little more than a number of children punching at each other, with little to no finesse or discipline in their attacks and style.

Only Sasuke and Naruto out of the entire class had any prior training, due to the Uchiha Clan's expectations. Even then, Sasuke seemed to have much more of a natural proficiency for combat than his younger brother. So much so the Sasuke had a rather considerable fan base for a nine year old. Every class, one could see every girl watching him with stars in their eyes, drinking in his every move and swooning every time he landed a punch during sparring.

Even lacking natural talent, training under the Uchiha Clan had clearly done wonders for Naruto as well. He didn't have the fangirls that Sasuke had, but there were a few- Iruka thought they must have liked the blond hair over the black- that always seemed to be stalking him. Naruto had never seemed to notice either, since he never sent them a single look, as opposed to Sasuke, who sort of smirked anytime he realized he was being watched.

* * *

Dinner at the Uchiha household was always an awkward affair, since two of the five who normally attended these dinners could be called away on a mission at any time. Tonight was one such night, when Itachi hadn't shown. Fugaku, the man Sasuke and Naruto both called father, was furious with him, more so than it seemed he should be. After all, surely just missing a dinner wasn't so bad, especially when it happened as regularly as it did with Itachi. He was in ANBU after all. The war against the Hidden Cloud may have ended years ago, but there were still attacks on the borders of the Land of Fire from time to time. So, ANBU were sent to resolve the issues, one way or another.

So, clearly Itachi had a reason for not showing up to dinner tonight, thought Sasuke, and that his father was simply being needlessly angry. Neither he nor Naruto were stupid enough to try and tell him this, however, since he tended to lose all sense of reason when angered. And so, they sat through the dinner, and, once finished, rose and left the room, going off to throw shuriken at a board for a while.

The next morning Sasuke's eyes snapped open, like someone had yelled right next to him. He was instantly wide awake, and sat bolt upright in a flash. He groaned, and as he did so he heard snickering coming from the doorway. Looking over at the familiar sound, he saw Naruto, grinning away, waiting for him to get up and dressed.

"You know we're going to be late, right?" Sasuke's eyes shot open once more, as he dashed around the room, locating the items he would need today. Naruto was laughing the whole time, ducking when Sasuke tried to punch him. "No need to be like that. Just trying to help," Naruto managed to get out through his laughing.

* * *

It was always fun to antagonize Sasuke when he overslept, because he would always have the best reactions to it. This morning Naruto had gotten more than enough laughter to last him a good long while. Both of them now sat back at home, feeding the koi in the small pond outside their house. They heard some kind of shouting come from the entrance to their home. Sasuke stood, and went to go check on it, wondering what it could be about. It sounded like Itachi was a part of it, so of course his curiosity spiked. Naruto looked back at the pond, shaking his head slightly for his brother's seeming infatuation, or rather, obsession with their older brother.

When Sasuke returned to the pond, Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion and concern. Sasuke had a look on his face that told Naruto that he was troubled by whatever it was he had just seen occur at the front of the house. Looking towards the walkway around the house, Naruto almost wished he had gone with his brother to see whatever the shouting was about. He voiced his question, but Sasuke merely shook his head and said he didn't know.

He did tell Naruto that Itachi had a strange look in his eye, like the Sharingan but different, as if all three parts of the Sharingan had melded together to form one single tomoe that branched out in multiple directions. Naruto sort of tilted his head, with a half grin on his face, thinking his brother had been seeing things. He had seen Itachi's Sharingan before, and it had looked just like every other Sharingan.

Naruto began to change his mind, however, when Sasuke kept insisting that the shape of the eye had changed. Sasuke never really tried to insist anything, thinking that if people didn't believe something the first time you told them, then they simply wouldn't. He was weird like that.

* * *

Itachi _really_ regretted being a ninja sometimes. Now was one of those times. For a while now, he had been feeding the village information on the Uchiha's coup plans, trying to come to a peaceful resolution. However, it was beginning to look like it would come to battle, Clan vs. Village.

He had already been accused of the murder of Shisui, his dear friend and comrade. That had sent him over the edge briefly, that someone would accuse him of killing his best friend, the same friend who had entrusted him with the safety of the clan and village. He had attacked his clan members, proving their weakness compared to him. He had even shown Sasuke his Mangekyou for a moment. The last one had been by design, obviously, but it still unnerved him how readily his own clan attacked him. It made him unsure as to whether a solution could ever be reached.

That was almost a week ago. Since then, he'd been trying to avoid his father, which unfortunately meant avoiding Sasuke and Naruto as well, since their father had set them to practicing the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu), albeit unintentionally. They both just seemed really determined to learn it.

One day, however, Itachi was finally approached by his father while he had been preparing to go to ANBU headquarters to deliver his report. Itachi almost jumped straight out the window, but for his father holding up his hand, signaling him to hear him out.

"Itachi, why did you attack those men? Or perhaps, why did they attack you? Furthermore, why have you been so busy with ANBU lately?" Fugaku asked, desperate to consul with his son.

"They had accused me of the murder of Shisui Uchiha, Father. Furthermore, ANBU wants me to find a peaceful way to resolve this coup," Itachi replied, trying to finish the conversation quickly. His father's mouth looked as though it had almost dropped open, before his face broke into a wide and uncharacteristic smile.

"You have truly no idea how relieved I am to hear that, Itachi. I've been trying to do the same for weeks, but Danzō keeps telling me they're working on it. Also, one of the clan heads is in a riot at every meeting about the corruption of the Leaf Village. I'm not sure who he. Are you familiar with any Uchiha with hair all the way down his back, who wields a gunbai?"

Itachi let out a small chuckle. "Sounds like Madara, as if he has someone trying to mimic him." His face fell back to it's usual serious demeanor. "However, Father, Danzō does not seek a peaceful end to this coup. He wants to claim the Sharingan for himself. Prior to his death, Shisui told me that Danzō had stolen his right eye, and mentioned the Izanagi."

Fugaku looked taken aback by this news, then as if he were remembering something. He spoke after a moment, "His right eye… Danzō has recently acquired some sort of injury to his right eye, meaning he constantly wears bandages around it. Could it be that he transplanted the eye into himself?"

Itachi's fury flared. He knew Danzō had taken the eye, but he had no idea he had implanted it. It was as if he just wanted to disrespect Shisui even further.

However, he calmed very quickly, when he realized that he now had the means to ruin Danzō and end the coup. His father had just said Danzō told him they hadn't reached an acceptable solution on the side of the ANBU, and yet Itachi knew the Third Hokage had told him that peace was the only thing that mattered in this circumstance. Therefore, Danzō was going directly against the Third's orders. Also, his father had said he wanted to reach that same peaceful end.

Perhaps this wasn't one of those times after all.

* * *

Sarutobi's favorite moments were whenever plans came to fruition. When Itachi told him that the Head of the Uchiha Clan wanted to continue peace in the village, peace between the Uchihas and the Leaf, he was overcome with joy. But when Itachi told him Danzō was preventing such peace, he became furious. He had only let Root be formed and hold such power because he trusted Danzō to work for the best interests of the village.

While there may have been members of the Uchiha Clan who would want to continue the coup d'état, they would ultimately have to bow to the wishes of the Clan Head. That was how the Uchiha Clan was run.

And beyond that, Danzō had clearly become infatuated with his power, thinking he could go over Sarutobi's head. Had he had his way, the Uchiha Clan likely would have been wiped out. Shaking his head at his old friend's stupidity, he made a note to make sure Root was disbanded and Danzō exiled from the village. A second later, he struck the latter from his thoughts.

For now, he had sat before him the man who had offered peace. Fugaku Uchiha actually seemed a bit embarrassed to be conversing on such a matter. When he had entered the room, he had initially bowed rather awkwardly to the Hokage, before making to kneel. Sarutobi stopped him, insisting they were both to blame.

* * *

Sasuke was confused. There was truly no other word for it. He had just witnessed a crowd of Uchiha yelling as they made their way down the street towards his house. They were saying things like, "Sellout!" and "Traitor!"

It seemed as though they were going to get violent once they saw Sasuke, given how angry their faces started to get. He managed to dodge a rock that was thrown at him from somewhere in the crowd. He ran for it down the street, trying to get to the Academy so they couldn't catch him. He turned around and saw they hadn't followed him at all. He stopped, and kept watching them from a distance. That's when he noticed some of them had torches, and those torches were lit.

Sasuke had never heard the word riot before, or any stories of the sort. To him, it seemed pointless to be carrying flaming sticks in the morning, while the sun was shining bright over their heads. He was about to turn when they reached the house in which his family was starting their morning.

And set it ablaze.

The last thing he saw before he turned fully was one of the men throwing a torch at the house. He turned back a moment later to see the entire front of the house on fire. He ran back to it, screaming for his parents, for his brothers. He stopped for a moment, realizing that these people were A. From his own clan, and B. Trying to kill a family of ninja who specialized in fire with a house fire. He was actually a little tempted to laugh at their ineptness.

Sasuke decided to relax a little as he made his way back to his house, to help them get out safely. By the time he had made it, he had seen his father and Itachi kill every member of the crowd who attacked them, and his mother use Suiton to put out the fire. Hey, even an Uchiha could know Suiton, right?

After they were all finished, Naruto came stumbling out, wheezing from what Sasuke assumed was smoke inhalation. His mother went over to the blond Uchiha, looking concerned. As she approached, he gave her a thumbs-up.

Sasuke wanted to smack his little brother upside the head for the terrible joke he made. "Hey, at least we don't have to get that paint job now, right? The house is already black," he said, making everyone just stare at him, before shaking their respective heads.

Itachi turned to their father, asking him, "Do you think this was the last of them?" His father nodded.

"Cowards and traitors always attack together, to feel strength in numbers and a justness in their cause. This will be the only attack, at least for awhile." Itachi seemed at least a little reassured. At the least, he showed relief. Sasuke decided to cut in.

"Hey, uh, Naruto? We need to be going. Iruka's gonna-" he was cut off by his brother's eyes widening, before Naruto sprinted past him yelling back a taunt.

"RACE YA, SASUKE!"

* * *

 **Hm. This chapter is also short. I'll get out a longer one eventually. For now, feel free to leave any reviews you deem necessary, beyond those that criticize page length.**

 **Also, I'd like to take a minute to try and convince you all of something.**

 **So, Fugaku says to Itachi, at least in the anime (I believe in the manga he tries to kill Mikoto, right?), that he is proud of Itachi for his decision. I have to believe he thinks the village is more important than the Uchiha Clan, or at least that he would have been willing to try for peace. Also, once again just the anime (I think), Danzō orders Itachi to kill all the Uchihas without Sarutobi's consent.**

 **Putting it all together, doesn't it seem like Danzō is to blame for the massacre? And doesn't it also seem like Fugaku would be able to negotiate peace with the village? Therefore, Danzō becomes the villain, and the one who gets in the way, against the Third's orders.**

 **Alright, I'm done convincing. This was all just because I don't like it when the Uchiha Clan inexplicably exists in fanfictions. I'm still not even sure I like my own decision to keep it around. Just one more thing.**

 **One thing I was trying to imply was that no one but Fugaku, Mikoto, and the Third Hokage are aware of Naruto's actual lineage. I'll expand on it in future chapters, as well as a few other things.**

 **Until Chapter 3: Team 7!**


	3. Chapter 3: Team 7

**So, I'm uploading this early to give all of you time to see the poll.**

 **Disclaimer: My father was drinker, and a fiend. One night, he told me I own Naruto, and made himself a liar as well.**

 **I need to stop wasting time on these.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Team 7

In Konohagakure, the graduation exam for the Academy was always very simple. Every year, each student would simply have to demonstrate the ability to produce a clone of themselves, or three, at the proctor's discretion. Only people who had never even begun to practice molding chakra, or those who just didn't know how to do the jutsu properly, could fail.

One such boy was one Naruto Uchiha. His parents had told him from a young age that he had an enormous amount of chakra, even for an Uchiha. As he grew older, he understood the effects of that large amount of chakra more and more. For one, he couldn't properly do E-rank jutsu, and many low D-ranks were off the table as well.

And thus, he was led to where he is now: The middle of the woods, reading off a forbidden scroll. A teacher, Mizuki, had said there was another way to pass. Naruto, not wanted to disappoint his family, took the bait and stole the scroll from the Hokage. He figured, _'Hey, they're not using it, right? They wouldn't mind if an Uchiha borrowed it for a little.'_

During the graduation test, he had failed miserably to produce a clone of himself, leading to Iruka failing him. Now, as he opened the scroll, his face fell when he saw that the first jutsu was another clone jutsu.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)? GAH! NOT ANOTHER CLONE JUTSU!" he yelled out.

But, to work he went, practicing for the next two hours the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and by the time he had finished perfecting it, Iruka found him.

"Oh, not you. How did you even find me? Oh well, at least I can graduate now," Naruto said, causing first anger then confusion in Iruka.

"What do you mean 'you can graduate now'?" Iruka asked, nervous about the response. Naruto beamed up at him.

"It's just Mizuki-sensei said. I learned a jutsu from this scroll, so I get to pass, right?" he responded, hope evident in his eyes. Iruka was about to answer, but the hairs on the back of neck stood up high. He had been a ninja too long to ignore his instincts, and pushed Naruto out of the way immediately. Naruto was able to avoid the barrage of shuriken and kunai thanks to Iruka, who took the full brunt of the attack.

"Well, well Iruka. Didn't think I'd find you here. Step aside, and let me kill the demon," came a voice. Naruto looked around, specifically around at the trees, since the voice came from above. After a moment, some silver hair appeared in the tree in front of them, with two dai-shuriken on his back.

"Mizuki-sensei? Why did you attack us?" Naruto bellowed, still unaware of the betrayal taking place before him. To the blonde, it seemed as though Mizuki had a death wish. He attacked not only a teacher from the Academy, and thus a ninja and comrade of the Leaf, but also an Uchiha, whose clan doesn't take lightly to those who harm its own.

"RUN NARUTO!" Screamed Iruka. He wanted Naruto to get away from Mizuki, as it seemed the former teacher was on the brink of breaking the SS-rank decree by the Third Hokage. Naruto needed to get away before that happened. He wasn't even a ninja yet; who knows how he would react to such news.

"Shut up, Iruka. The demon wants to know why I attacked it. Well-" Mizuki started, before being cut off by the boy he was talking to.

"Why do you all call me a demon? Whenever I'm alone, without my clan, everyone always calls me that. Why?" Naruto called up at him. Mizuki's face contorted slightly in anger at being cut off.

"You should know! You're the one who killed so many people, you damn demon fox!" The chunin roared, accidentally letting the information slip. Naruto looked puzzled for a moment, before his expression turned to that of pure horror.

"You mean- I have- I am… the Kyūbi?" He asked, his tone full of nervousness and fear, as if he was scared of himself, or what he might be. He grabbed the sides of his head, doubled over, and just started screaming.

Mizuki said he was the Kyūbi no Kitsune. He couldn't be. There was no way. If he was, then… then how could he be an Uchiha? Was he an Uchiha? Was he even human? His hand brushed against the whiskers on his face, and he realized that they were probably there because he was the fox. To him, it was proof. He got onto his feet, still clutching the sides of his head, and ran off, not even looking upwards. Mizuki was about to give chase when Iruka threw a kunai back at him.

"How could you do something like that, Mizuki? He's just a boy." Iruka wheezed out, still feeling the pain of the earlier barrage of weapons.

"Don't make me laugh, Iruka. He wouldn't have run if he didn't know I was right," replied Mizuki, jumping past Iruka and chasing the blonde.

* * *

There was a strange feeling in the air. It was almost tangible, and yet Sarutobi couldn't tell what it was. Usually, whenever he got this feeling, it had something to do with Naruto, so he decided to check his crystal ball.

When he did, he saw that both Mizuki and Iruka, for different reasons, were chasing Naruto, who seemed to be glowing slightly. Sarutobi furrowed his brow in concern. Naruto was glowing slightly red, Mizuki seemed to want to kill him, and Iruka was trying to stop Mizuki. The only conclusion he could reach was that Mizuki had told Naruto about the Kyūbi.

Regardless of what actually happened, he could feel the Kyūbi's chakra growing more and more. Naruto seemed very upset by what Mizuki had told him, so much so that he was leaking red chakra slightly. All of a sudden, Naruto vanished from the crystal ball, as he picked up speed from the influence of the Kyūbi's chakra. The Third Hokage felt he needed to get out there, now.

It wasn't hard to find Naruto. By the time Sarutobi was ready to find him, he was emitting hatred and anger so intensely Sarutobi could feel it from over a mile away. He was actually headed _away_ from the village, which surprised the Hokage. He suspected that the fox would drive Naruto to go towards it, so the Kyūbi could wreak havoc.

When Sarutobi caught up, and found Naruto, the young jinchūriki was sat against a tree, covered his face with his hands. That wasn't what concerned Sarutobi, however. Naruto had anger and hatred rolling off of him in waves, but there was absolutely no Kyūbi presence at all. Sarutobi decided he could worry about that later.

He knelt down in front of Naruto, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "Naruto? Are you alright?" he asked, unsure of the answer he would get.

Naruto answered, words muffled slightly by his hands, "Mizuki-sensei… he told me I was the Kyūbi. That I killed so many people. Is he right?"

Sarutobi felt more anger, but this time it was his own. Mizuki had twisted the truth around so much in his own head, then pushed those beliefs on a small, innocent boy. He would make sure Mizuki was allowed to spend quality time with Ibiki later. For now, however, he needed to make sure Naruto could stay in his right mind.

"No, Naruto," he said softly. "You aren't the fox. You are the one _stopping_ the fox. You simply contain it, as the bearer of a fūinjutsu powerful enough to hold it."

Hiruzen couldn't tell if Naruto was more or less tense than before. Either way, the blonde spoke again, "So… I'm not a demon? Really?" Sarutobi could tell that the boy had been deeply affected by what Mizuki had told him. Likely because the former teacher had helped Naruto just hours before.

"Of course not, Naruto. You are a ninja-in-training of Konohagakure, and a citizen of Hi no Kuni. You are not the fox. Not at all," he answered. He felt all of the anger and hatred dissipate around them, as Naruto relaxed.

"Thank you, Ji-chan," he said. Sarutobi smiled, a warm smile, with his eyes closed with joy, the same way Kakashi Hatake smiled. When he opened his eyes, he fell back slightly in shock. Naruto had lifted up his head, and was looking at him.

So when the Third had looked back into his eyes, his black eyes had been met by Naruto's Sharingan.

* * *

 _It was a cold night. There was snow lying on the ground here and there. The moon was obscured by the clouds, and the street had no lights on it. However, Naruto and his cousin were out on this street anyways, playing around._

 _But their fun was short lived. Only six years ago, the Kyūbi had been defeated, at the expense of many villagers. Anger still ran rampant among the civilians. And tonight, that anger manifested itself into a brutal attack._

 _As he and his cousin were playing about, that cousin tried to shout a warning to Naruto. Before she could, Naruto felt something blunt impact the back of his head. Near instantly, he was out cold. His cousin tried to run for it, but to her dismay, the men and women who had attacked Naruto came after her as well._

 _She didn't know how they got there, but Naruto and she were tied to poles in a warehouse of some kind. The men who captured them seemed to be performing some kind of ritual. They were chanting something. As she listened, she could make out what they were saying. But they had started to move towards them._

" _See no evil," they chanted. At this line, they stabbed out Naruto's eyes. He had been unconscious before, but he awoke, screaming in pain, writhing in his bonds. Then the men turned to her._

" _Speak no evil," they continued. They reached into her mouth, and grabbed hold of her tongue. They pulled it as far out of her mouth as they could, and brought the knife down. She shrieked in pain, pulling on the rope holding her to the pole._

 _She was barely aware of when they finished._

" _Hear no evil," they held the knife to the side of her head, and slashed off her right ear. As she blacked out from blood loss, she saw them move over to Naruto's left ear, before the door to the warehouse was blasted off its hinges, all the way across the room into the crowd._

 _But too late for her. At some point, they had been cutting into both her and Naruto, and left them bleeding for a while. She had lost far too much blood. She fell limp, only held upright by the rope around her ankles and wrists._

* * *

 _Naruto woke up, his eyes hurting from the bright lights. But he realized something very important._

 _He could see._

 _He sat bolt upright, his eyes feeling like they had been sprayed with lava. He had attracted the attention of the doctors in the room. They swarmed around him, bombarding him with too many questions at once. He asked, very simply, in a hoarse voice, "Where is she?" The doctors didn't ask who. They just looked down, and Naruto knew. His cousin was dead. He broke down, reduced to tears._

 _When he could speak clearly again, he asked how he could see. One of the doctors, a blond woman, told him that his cousin's eyes had been implanted into him. He fell backwards, eyes closed, and held his hands to them. He didn't know how long he stayed like that, but he fell asleep in that position._

* * *

Naruto, comforted by the Third, looked up at him, and saw him smiling. The pain in his eyes had faded, and he had taken his hands away from them. But when the Hokage looked down at him again, he had fallen back, as if he was shocked by something. Naruto looked at him with confusion.

He seemed to gather himself quickly, as he continued to speak, "Remember, Naruto: you are not the fox. You are you." Naruto nodded, and the Third left. Naruto heard wheezing above him.

"There… you… are," Mizuki got out, completely out of breath from chasing the blonde. "Give… me… the… SCROLL!" Naruto jumped away, turning to face Mizuki mid-jump. He looked straight into Mizuki's eyes as he did.

The traitorous teacher almost fell out of the tree in fright of something. He spoke again, "But… how do you have that? WHO DID YOU STEAL IT FROM!?" Naruto flinched slightly, surprised by the sudden shouting.

"What do you mean, Mizuki-teme?" He called back, hoping for an answer to why people kept being startled when he looked at them.

"Where did you get the Sharingan, you damned demon fox?" came the unexpected reply. Naruto held his hands in front of his eyes, as if he thought he would be able to see his reflection in them. But no, he only saw his hands. Then he remembered something from his past, something he had repressed.

"They were a gift, from a cousin. She gave them to me after she was killed!" He shouted back. Mizuki scowled. He pulled a dai-shuriken off his back, and began to spin it on his wrist.

"DIE, THIEF!" he roared, as he threw the spinning weapon straight at Naruto. Before it hit him, he dodged to the side. To be more accurate, he was tackled to the side by Iruka, who had been grazed by it.

"Are," Iruka got out, before coughing up a little blood. "You ok, Naruto?" The blonde nodded. Iruka sighed with relief, before turning to Mizuki. "It's one thing to attack the poor boy with words, but to try and kill him over something he can't control, Mizuki? That's something only a monster would do."

Mizuki laughed at Iruka's criticism, replying, "I should have killed him sooner, when he was just a boy. Then he couldn't have run as he did." Iruka glared at him in anger.

"How could you, Mizuki? How could you betray the Leaf like this?"

"Very easily, as it turns out," Mizuki answered. "If you're going to protect the demon, then you'll die first!" He took the other dai-shuriken off of his back, and began to spin it as he had the other. He charged Iruka, as if he planned to use the shuriken as a melee weapon.

Before he ever reached Iruka, he was sent flying by a kick to the face, courtesy of Naruto. As he kicked him, Naruto used his face to spring off and away from the former chunin. Mizuki was sent flying into a tree, before falling into unconsciousness from the impact.

Naruto looked disappointed. Until, that is, Mizuki jumped up at him, revealing himself to have faked unconsciousness. Naruto jumped away, making a handsign with his middle and index fingers crossing, with his right hand parallel to the ground and in front of his left hand.

"TAJŪ KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he yelled. Over a thousand Naruto's popped into existence around them, in the trees and littering the ground. Mizuki was left in a small clearing amongst them, looking horrified.

All of them spoke at once, "You won't lay a single hand… ON MY SENSEI!" All of the Naruto's attacked at once, in a disorganized mob that had a very unfortunate traitor at the bottom of it.

After nearly an hour, the last of the shadow clones had dispelled, leaving Iruka to try and force his mouth shut. After he did, he walked over to Naruto, put a hand on his head, and congratulated him. The blonde cocked his head, giving Iruka a questioning look. Iruka pulled his headband of his own head, and placed it on Naruto's. The boy almost fainted from excitement. As it was, Iruka would have to carry the boy home. He seemed to be in shock.

* * *

Naruto woke, unsure of where he was. The last thing he remembered was Iruka graduating him. He sat up, looking around. He recognized the room as his own at the Uchiha Compound. It was very simple, since he spent very little time in it. There was only a wardrobe and the bed, with a window on the wall opposite the door.

He changed his clothes, since the ones he was wearing were torn up from running through all the trees the previous night. Every single one of his outfits were the same: Nearly identical to Sasuke's, but Naruto's were completely black, save for the Uchiha emblem.

He looked out the window, for the first time since he woke up, and saw it was bright outside. It seemed to be early in the morning; around 9 or so. He decided that everyone else would probably be up. He only had to search for a minute before he found Sasuke with his ear to a wall.

He nudged Sasuke from behind. The young Uchiha nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden contact, but saw it was only Naruto, and calmed down.

"What are you doing, Sasuke?" the blonde asked his brother. Sasuke moved away from the wall, not wanting others to hear him.

"I was listening to Father and Itachi," he sheepishly admitted, looking down and shuffling his foot about. "Father was praising Itachi on another mission he did. I wish he would praise me like that. I mean, I just graduated yesterday, but he didn't say anything about it." He almost seemed bitter while speaking.

Naruto latched on to one part of what his brother said. It sounded like Iruka either hadn't told his family he passed, or Sasuke hadn't been told by anyone. Either way, it meant another chance to surprise his brother. He couldn't wait to see the look on Sasuke's face come orientation day.

* * *

"NARUTO?!"

"That's right, Sasuke! I passed!"

Onlookers, for the most part, had amused expressions at the exchange between the two Uchiha twins. There was one, however, who became annoyed.

Iruka yelled at the two to sit down, a command they obeyed immediately. As he was listing off team assignments, Naruto leaned over to his brother.

"50 ryo says I'm on your team," he gambled. Sasuke gave him an indignant look, like he thought a harmless bet was the worst thing in the world.

"Fine," he answered. He turned back to the front, waiting for his name to come up.

"Team 8 will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyūga. Team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi. Are there any questions?" Iruka called out to the classroom. Sasuke realized that they had missed their names, and asked Iruka to repeat his team. As he did, he noticed the pink-haired girl to his left, Sakura, he thought her name was, looking at him with stars in her eyes.

Iruka sighed, but repeated himself, "Team 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. Is that all?" Sasuke nodded. In his head, however, he was repeatedly smashing his head into a wall. Not only did he lose the bet, but he would be spending that next several years putting up with his brothers antics.

"Now," Iruka continued. Sasuke realized he missed something again. "Team 7's jonin-sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." Sasuke relaxed a little, realizing he didn't miss anything important. "Any new questions?" Iruka asked to the class once again. "Then I'll leave you to it," he said, as he left the classroom."

"Wait… Are we supposed to wait for our jonin-sensei's?" asked a redheaded girl. She was given a yes from Iruka, before he had left.

* * *

Three hours. Kakashi Hatake had made them wait for THREE HOURS! Sasuke was driven up the wall from all the waiting. He was patient, but not this patient. He didn't even try to argue when Naruto put an eraser in the door, so that it would drop on Kakashi's head when he walked through. Sakura, of course, scolded him for doing so.

When the jonin finally walked through, despite what two of the three genin had thought was going to happen, the eraser fell right onto the top of Kakashi's head, leading to a pause from the silver haired jonin as Naruto laughed and Sakura apologized. Even Sasuke made a small chuckle.

"How should I say this?" Kakashi wondered aloud, stroking his mask. "My first impression is… I hate you all."

* * *

 **And another chapter done.**

 **Until Chapter 4: The Bell Test!**


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